January
13, 2008 Pakistan's
'Disappeared' Still Remain
An Unfinished Business By
Zofeen T. Ebrahim
Karachi
Emergency has been lifted and a brand new apex court set up in
Pakistan, but the bench still refuses to entertain cases of human
rights violations, specially those of enforced disappearances, says
former law minister Iqbal Haider.
"We should wash our hands off these cases," says Haider. Those who
have disappeared have often been labelled terrorists or threats to
national security, yet none have been charged with any crime so far.
"These will remain in cold storage and not be honoured by the
present Supreme Court as orders have been passed not to fix dates
for the hearing of these cases," alleges Haider, also secretary
general of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)
that has been pleading many rights cases, including those of
enforced disappearances.
Who would know that better than 35-year-old Amina Janjua Masood, who
has been spearheading the campaign against enforced disappearances
since August 2006. Her husband Masud Janjua, an Islamabad
businessman, went missing July 30, 2005.
"Our campaign has suffered a major setback. Our supporters (families
of the missing) have thinned because their hopes are dashed," Janjua
told IANS from Islamabad.
Their protests continue twice every week. "But you don't get to know
as the national media has been barred from covering these events."
Organising the families of the missing on a joint forum - Defence of
Human Rights - Janjua has been rallying support to get the "485 on
my list" released from the "clutches of the secret agencies". So far
110 have come home.
Held arbitrarily, incommunicado at undisclosed locations, the figure
of 485, according to Amnesty International, represents just the tip
of the iceberg since Pakistan became a US ally in the latter's 'war
on terror' six years ago. While the exact number is unknown, Amnesty
believes over 2,000 have disappeared since 2001.
Janjua attributes her success to "the efforts of the deposed chief
justice" whom she claims was their "closest ally" and their "only
hope in our search for the missing".
Many observe that the suspension of chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry in March 2006 came because of his unrelenting pursuit of
military and civilian secret agencies to produce the disappeared.
"The military ruler could not bear the idea of intelligence
officials being summoned by the court and wanted a free hand in
picking up people and keeping them in custody without trial," said
Zohra Yusuf, a member of the HRCP.
For the families of the missing persons, Chaudhry's sacking proved
devastating. Although reinstated four months later, after which he
continued pursuing the disappearances cases with renewed vigour, the
blow came when Musharraf declared emergency Nov 3 and dismissed
senior judges.
"We were just days away from getting our loved ones back," says a
disheartened Janjua, when Musharraf imposed emergency and deposed
the judiciary. "Now everything is in disarray."
A hearing set for Nov 13 was to be decisive, according to Janjua, as
Chaudhry had told the government that the court had enough evidence
to show that the missing were with the various secret agencies.
Janjua said Chaudhry had ordered the government not only to make the
missing people "surface" but also to provide evidence of why they
were apprehended in the first place.
Asked if the new Supreme Court would take up their fight, Janjua
says sardonically: "Pinning hope on this apex court would be
ridiculous. It's a tailor-made bench meant to rubber-stamp whatever
the president says and does. And he does not want to give back our
loved ones," says a dejected Janjua.
(Zofeen T. Ebrahim can be contacted at zofeen28@hotmail.com)
Boloji.com is owned and managed by Boloji Media Inc Privacy Policy |
Disclaimer
No part of this Internet site may
be reproduced without prior written permission of the copyright holder.
